2020 Grand Puy Ducasse
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Tasting notes
Tasted blind. Black core with crimson rim. Dark-fruited and slightly charry aroma with lots of fresh black fruit underneath. Very firm, thickish tannins on the palate, chocolate-like, and could do with a little more freshness to balance. Firm and chewy yet with the dark-fruited classicism of Pauillac. Firm and embryonic. (JH)
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
James Lawther MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
The 2020 Grand-Puy Ducasse has a comparatively opulent bouquet with black cherries, cassis and figgy aromas. Perhaps it was picked a little late. The palate is medium-bodied with an almost Rhône-like entry. A bit animally and spicy, there's impressive weight and concentration, with just a bit of warmth on the finish. Again, this is another bottle that feels unrepresentative, and I will attribute a score. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
Full bottle 1,342 g. Certified HVE. Very dark, smoky, brooding and tannic. Charcoal, elderberries and bitter herbs. Lots of power packed into intensely compact tannins, like metamorphic rock in a glass. Layers and layers into black stone. Uncompromising, but wonderfully fresh. (TC)
If its stablemate Meyney is a real success this year, the 2020 Grand-Puy-Ducasse exhibits a firmer, more extracted profile. Offering up attractive aromas of cherries, cassis, pencil shavings and violets, it's medium to full-bodied, framed by chalky tannins that assert themselves on the chewy finish.
About the producer
The 40 hectares of this Pauillac Fifth Growth are spread across three sites, pieced together in the 18th century by Pierre Ducasse. Today owned by France’s Crédit Agricole bank, they have some very fine vineyard land, with their northernmost plot neighbouring Mouton and Lafite.